The character, played by Genevieve O’Reilly, was originally set to make her debut in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith when the scene she appeared in was left on the cutting room floor and later released as a deleted scene. One can imagine the surprise of fans when they saw Mothma appear in the trailer for Rogue One a little over a decade later. While many assumed that this was simply a nod to longtime fans and that her role would be little more than a cameo, Kennedy explained that not only will audiences be seeing “quite a bit of her,” but that she will also be attempting to provide leadership to the Rebel Alliance in it’s time of need:

Rogue One tells the story of resistance fighters who have united to steal plans to the dreaded Death Star. Felicity Jones leads the cast as Jyn Erso alongside Mads Mikklesen who plays her father, Galen Erso. Diego Luna (Milk, Killing Them Softly) stars as Captain Cassian Andor with Donnie Yen (Ip Man, Blade II) as the blind spiritual warrior Chirrut Imwe, Jiang Wen (Let the Bullets Fly, Devils on the Doorstep) as his heavily armored best friend Baze Malbus,, Alan Tudyk (Firefly) as the droid K-2SO, Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler, Four Lions) as the Rebel pilot Bodhi Rook, plus Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) as Saw Gerrera, a character first introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline, Mississippi Grind) as the film’s main antagonist, Director Orson Krennic.